“I felt like it would be dangerous for me to take a break,” Cherry explains. This whirlwind of activity directly fed into the creation of Cherry’s sophomore project, Living in the Present Future (2001), which featured a duet with sister Neneh and production by industry titan Rick Rubin (Def Jam Records, Johnny Cash, Tom Petty, Dixie Chicks, Red Hot Chili Peppers, etc.). The release of Desireless sparked off two years of constant touring, performing, and promotion – pausing briefly to contribute a lead vocal to Sanatana’s enormously successful Supernatural album. “I had no idea I would be playing huge radio shows or venues with over 20,000 in attendance.” “I had made a mellow album, thinking I could tour clubs with an acoustic trio,” he says, with a trace of awe still tangible. “For me, taking every step into consideration, it was a slow build.” The irony of the album’s humble beginnings did not escape Cherry. “It didn’t feel like I exploded,” he says. I had played drums, and had bought some equipment to help me learn about sampling and programming, but the guitar gave me an outlet of expression and forced me to simplify my ideas.” The apartment I had rented in Stockholm happened to have an acoustic guitar in it,” he recalls. “Sweden felt like a safe environment to start in. At the relatively late age of 26, he returned to Sweden and began composing in earnest. It wasn’t like I was consciously forgoing the family business, it’s just that I was the class clown, and loved acting.” Through the triumphs and trials of his sister, trip-hop pioneer Neneh Cherry, Eagle-Eye was privy to both strange mechanizations of the music industry and approached with caution, on his own terms.Īs Cherry’s sense of self developed, he decided to pursue songwriting more seriously. “After a while,” he explains, “I started getting a lot of work, and in New York, the money was really good. While he also played drums in a few fly-by-night outfits, acting was his chief concern as he entered his twenties. Raised in bucolic, rural southern Sweden – “An unbelievable place dirt roads and lakes and stuff,” he remembers – Eagle-Eye left to attend school in Manhattan, where his outgoing personality and quick wit lead him to embrace drama. He will always be a major inspiration in all that I do.” “Don Cherry wasn’t only my father: he was also a great friend who had an amazing perspective on life, very much about living in the now. “He will probably be the most fascinating person I will have met in my life,” Eagle-Eye reflects, still in awe. He is the son of pioneering jazz musician Don Cherry. “But, at the same time, you can definitely trace a journey through my music.”Įagle-Eye’s wide-ranging sensibilities and ability to incorporate seemingly contrasting impulses can be at least partially credited to his upbringing and heritage. “I’d hesitate to say there’s been a master plan,” he reflects on his career and recordings. His newest music seeks to fuse his homespun, handmade roots with a widescreen sense of scope. His music is contemplative and intimate, yet has resonated widely and achieved international popular success, most notably via the propulsively seductive single “Save Tonight” and a string of subsequent hit singles in Europe, Australia, South Africa, and Brazil. For instance, Cherry calls Sweden home, although he was born to an iconic American father and has spent much of his life in the US. Poised at the brink of innumerable seemingly incompatible contradictions, musician and songwriter Eagle-Eye Cherry not only reconciles them all – he harnesses the friction and fashions from it a powerful, personal sound that is both accessible and provocative.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |